Tag: solotravel

  • Hong Kong 4 days itinerary

    Hong Kong 4 days itinerary

    Octopus Card

    Here is a more detailed explanation about our itinerary:

    Day 1 – we arrived late afternoon, HK has one of the most efficient airports I’ve ever been to and disembarking the aircraft to leaving the airport took just 25 minutes! The airport express train then takes you to Central (the main transport hub) in about the same amount of time, for you to carry on to your hotel (we stayed in Little Tai Hang aparthotel, located in the Eastern District in the HK Island and the room, the area, the price and the location was perfect!)

    Themed Links – Aparthotels Booking.com UK Homepage
    Victoria Peak at night
    Before taking the MTR back we had a wander around the Citygate Outlets for some retail therapy and grabbed some food. Once back on Hong Kong Island we went to the Yick Fat Building (Monster Building) which became famous after Transformers: Age of Extinction was filmed there it’s a short walk from the Tai Koo MTR station and yes, you can expect this to be busy but fortunately wasn't too bad.
    Yick Fat Building
    For Sunset we headed up to Braemar Hill Peak, there is actually a rock just before the peak which involves a small scramble which in our opinion offers the best view. Read more about this location and how to get there here.
    Braemar Hill Peak
    After sunset we headed to the promenade on the Kowloon side to watch the light show before taking the MTR to Yau Ma Tei where you can find In’s Point (Large toy store) and then we headed to Mong Kok to look around  Mong Kok computer centre. Honest opinion here, the toy store wasn't what we had in mind at all, it is good but most of the shops seems to have the same products. Regarding Mong Kok computer centre was okay although many of the shops were closed. We visited another computer centre at Wan Chai, (Wan Chai computer centre) which was really good with lots of variety and good deals, if you got to visit one we would definitely recommend the last one.

    Finally to finish the night, we grabbed some food at Ichiran for the best ramen we’ve ever tasted! Ichiran is also open until late, the prices are for everyone and the experience is unique, so if you like ramen as we do, then this is your place!
    Day 3– Victoria Peak sunrise, wandering around the city and art lane. Victoria
    Harbour from the promenade, Choi Hung Estate, Suicide Peak and back to the Temple Night Market.

    Back to Victoria Peak at Luggard Road Lookout for sunrise, unfortunately it was quite murky but the clouds made it very atmospheric and gave us the chance of taking some amazing photos.
    We took then the bus back down to the city (bus No. 1 will take you there in about 20min), grabbed some breakfast at R&R Bagels (a must) and then
    wandered around central to Art Lane and back towards the Bank of China to do some street photography before taking the Star Ferry across to the promenade to see the Harbour view in the daytime. The Star Ferry
    costs less than £1 and here you can also pay with Octopus card, so definitely worth doing so for the experience!
    We then headed over to Choi Hung Estate (MTR to Choi Hung station) to photograph the colourful buildings and basketball court, it wasn't too busy and here you can fly drones!
    Choi Hung Estate
    Our last stop of the day was hiking up to Suicide Cliff, there are several different routes to this spot. We took the shortest but hardest route which involved a lot of scrambling uphill for about one hour, to learn more about it click here. 

    Once at the top though the views were definitely worth it!
    Suicide Cliff
    On the way back to the hotel we decided to stop by Temple Street again for some more delicious food.

    Day 4 – The Whampoa, East Coast Park Precinct, Causeway Bay , a very cool 3D printing factory, and Braemar Hill again before leaving.

    Our flight was late in the evening so we tried to make the most of this day before we had to leave for the airport. Fortunately where we were staying they let us do a late check out (without additional charges) and they storaged our bags until we left to the airport, this allowed us to move around without the hassle of having to carry the bags!
    First we headed out to The Whampoa which is a large mall of over 300
    shops and several themed worlds, including a ship! Here you can get a very cool shot with the drone. Then we took the MTR to East Coast Park Precinct before wandering up into Causeway Bay, we found here a super cool 3D printing shop called dot 3D which is definitely worth a look!
    Victoria Harbour
    Finally we decided to wander up Braemar Hill once more to fly our drones and to finish off our stay in HK before heading to the airport.
    Braemar Hill
    Short but intense, we feel like we made a lot considering that we just spent three days in Hong Kong. In our opinion, in the last day we could have also do the hike to The Dragon's Back, but we had to choose one. However, Hong Kong is a city to come back that's for sure so it will be in our list next time.

    If you enjoyed this post don't forget to subscribe and if you have any other tips or recommendations for a short stay in HK, let us know in the comments, we will love to hear about it!

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  • China Visa

    China Visa

    CHINA VISA – EXEMPTIONS, APPLICATION AND PROCESS

    Before travelling to a different country, one of the first things in our checklist should be our Visa. Is it required and if so, what’s the application process, duration or if there’s any exemptions (as it was my case due my Spanish nationality). This should be one of the most important things to keep in mind since without this, we won’t go too far! In this post, Tom will discuss his experience to obtain a visa to travel to the China mainland as a British Citizen living in the UK.

    Firstly, there are several different options for visitors travelling to China.

    VISA EXEMPTION

    For around 40 nationalities, China offer an exemption for up to 30 days (recently extended from 15 days), this may be extended but for now it is only as long as you travel before the end of December 2025. Here is the list of the current countries included:-

    Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monacco, Liechtenstein, South Korea, Brunei, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Japan.

    VISA FREE TRANSIT

    China have also recently upgraded their China visa-free transit policy, this only applies if you have a interline ticket (connecting ticket) with the confirmed departure date and seat number leaving for a third country or region within 240 hours of arriving (10 Days). Please note that it must be a third country so you can’t simply return back to your original travel country!

    The nationalities this applies to are as follows:-

    Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Monaco, Belarus, United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile Australia and New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

    TOURISM VISA

    For myself as a British Citizen I unfortunately couldn’t take advantage of the transit visa as while I was travelling onwards to Hong Kong my stay in China would be 14 days so applying for an official tourist visa was my only option.

    Fortunately while there were a lot of steps the whole process was very smooth for me, hopefully this will give you the information for you to do the same thing.

    Step 1 – Find your visa centre

    First of all you can only apply for the visa when you are within 3 months of your travel date, you can complete all the paperwork before this date however if you wish which I will come onto in step 2! The UK has four dedicated Chinese Visa Application Centres located in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast. You will have to attend in person at which every location you choose. Manchester was just over a two hour drive for me so was the most ‘convenient’ for me to pick. Select your choice on the website here: https://www.visaforchina.cn/ , you can then create an account to be able to start your application.

    Visa Application Centre, Manchester

    Step 2 – Collection or Postage options

    Before starting the paperwork I would recommend obtaining a passport style photo which is needed for the application, you are required to upload a photo to the website as well as bring a hard copy to the application centre. Most photobooths readily available in many locations will give the option to email you the photos as well nowadays, I went to a local Tesco superstore to get mine.

    The other option you want to decide now is whether you want to go back to the application centre to collect the visa once it has been approved or have it returned by post. While there was an extra charge (covered in more detail later) it was more convenient for me to have mine posted back. You passport is retained as the visa is directly stamped in so I opted for special delivery to have mine returned, you have to purchase a prepaid envelope from a post office for this which costs approximately £8, this is not provided by the centre. Make sure you write the return address clearly onto it. If you decide you want to return in person then skip this process

    Step 3 – Paperwork

    So for this application be prepared to give literally every bit of information you can think of! All you personal details as well as your parents, work history, education etc and references to back it up!

    Here is a sample application form:

    With regards to your planned trip they want all your accommodation information, your departure/arrival flight numbers and a general itinerary.

    This part takes a bit of time especially to collate all the information and double triple check everything matches, I know someone who’s visa got rejected because their names didn’t match their passports exactly on the forms it’s very strict!

    You are then required to print and sign the application bringing it as well as all the documents to the visa centre to be checked.

    Please note:

    A recent update to the application process means that now all the paperwork can be uploaded to the visa application for an online review, additional documents may be requested. Once you have passed the online review you will still need to visit the visa centre but this streamlines the process.

    Step 4 – Visa centre visit

    Appointments are not required, I arrived early as I wasn’t sure how busy it would be. No photos are allowed to be taken inside but I snapped this before entering. You are given a ticket number and called to a desk once it is your turn. All the documents are reviewed with copies taken, your passport will also be taken so bear this in mind. Your fingerprints are also scanned and finally you pay the visa fee. Overall this process was very smooth and  I was only inside for about 15 minutes, there was a lot of seats and 8 counters though so maybe it can get a lot busier at times. It’s worth noting that I was told I would receive no email updates during the processing time unless any further information was required, so in this case no news was good news!

    Step 5 – Fees overview

    As a UK passport holder I was charged £154 which included a £90 post back service fee as shown in the schedule of fees table below (fees could change in the future). A pleasant surprise was also that while I only requested a one time entry visa I was told I would get a two year visa allowing travel up to 90 days at a time which was a bonus!

    Step 6 – Receive visa

    I submitted my application on a Monday and as promised I received a tracking update Wednesday evening stating that my passport would be delivered Thursday in line with their stated four day processing time. Here is a picture!

    Chinese Visa

    Overall while a lot of time went into preparing the application I found the process streamlined and encountered no issue, I hope the same goes for you as well!